The idea

My idea is to develop a space (mainly web, but not limited to) where people in need can find services that suit them. Local government, HMRC, NHS, charities etc provide benefits and services targeting different beneficiaries, but such information is rarely centralised. For example, if you are pregnant, what are the benefits you have access to? What services are available? Or if you are homeless, if you have difficulty paying your bill, etc. I’m thinking of a directory where people can find, add, update, exchange information on services available for people with different needs.

What social need does it address?

There are many people who need different support, but cannot get it because they don’t know where to find it/who they can contact. I think it will be useful to have a place where people can go and get information, not only from government and organisations, but people who are in the same circumstances.

The way I see it, benefits and supports are available for people who know they are there, but not necessarily for people who really need them. For example, during my wife’s pregnancy, we looked for benefits and services that are available through local government, HMRC and NHS, but it required us to do an extensive research to find information. We then needed to read hundreds of pages to find out whether we qualified. Having English as a foreign language made it even harder for us to go through this whole process. Health visitors and GPs were not very helpful on this either.

Even if such a ‘directory’ is developed, having the information only on the web in English is a limit itself; however it would be a good starting point.

What’s new about it?

I think it’s almost embarrassingly web 2.0. But what is new about my idea is that, with this service, people do not only find services, but they can also provide/exchange information on services. Information can be adequately summarised and conveyed in plain language, rather than just distributing documents written by councils that are often full of crap and jargon, which often make no sense to people with a poor English skill like myself.

What inspired you?

Generally I find vulnerable people don’t have access to information they really need. Also as I described above, my wife and I had a difficult time finding available services for pregnant women/parents with babies.

Idea submitted by Mori Sugimoto

Mori is a Drupal developer